Quantitative Quest

About this page

Where Detail Dog asked the butterflies about feelings, Subby the Robot stretches a measuring tape up a sunflower and gets a number. This is quantitative research, the counting-and-measuring side of science, and it is a natural fit for a robot who loves precision. Together with the page before it, this scene completes a friendly pair, some questions need stories and some need numbers. Kids can start collecting their own numbers right away, heights, times, and how-many counts, and this page plants the idea that measuring something is a way of paying close attention to it.

Talk about it while you color

• What things around our house could we measure together after coloring?
• How tall do you think the sunflower is compared to you?
• Why do you think Subby wants a number instead of just saying the flower is big?